Thursday, October 21, 2010

Beck's fake populism exposed: he sides with corporations, not people, to buy elections

Previously on the Review, it was pointed out how Glenn Beck sides against the people in his audience in favor or corporations that seek to exploit his viewers and everyone else in America. Now, Beck has been directly tied to a meeting with the very people behind the corporate takeover of the American Republic that we're witnessing in this first, post-Citizens United v. FEC election. This was covered on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night:

The following organizational chart was assembled by MoveOn.org to show how "RepubliCorpTMcombines the ethics-free campaigning savvy of the GOP with the limit-free spending power of Corporate AmericaTM."

Prudential Financial sent in a $2 million donation last year
as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a national
advertising campaign to weaken the historic rewrite of the
nation's financial regulations.
Dow Chemical delivered $1.7 million to the chamber last year
as the group took a leading role in aggressively fighting
proposed new rules to tighten security requirements on
chemical facilities.
And Goldman Sachs, Chevron Texaco, and Aegon, a multinational
insurance company based in the Netherlands, donated more than
$8 million in recent years to a chamber foundation seeking to
limit the ability of trial lawyers to sue businesses.
These large donations -- none of which were publicly
disclosed by the chamber -- offer a glimpse of the chamber's
money-raising efforts, which it has ramped up recently in an
orchestrated campaign to become one of the most well-financed
critics of the Obama administration and an influential player
in this fall's Congressional elections.

The United States is at serious risk of being high jacked by large corporations that seek to outsource American jobs, depress salaries, keep unemployment high and run rough-shod over the public interests of clean water, non-toxic foods, clean air, etc. The true goal for the Koch brothers is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations. Glenn Beck is in the thick of this effort, and his minions will be working hard at the grass roots level to aid with this effort in the name of "small government."

Be afraid; be very afraid. Don't just sit there: take a stand. Get the word out. Our democratic order hangs in the balance.

16 comments:

As usual Victor, you're dead on. Yes, I'm still here, have just been isolating myself most of the time; in & out of the hospital-the "stroke" and clots since then, cause my memory, patience, ability to speak coherently & motivation to wax & wane. Anyways, I look forward to what you'll likely say about Beck's extreme mania, (fear perhaps?), the past 2 days. As someone who has watched him for well over 2 years now, I have never seen so much rage in his eyes & face, with at least hints of fear mixed in with his voice & rhetoric. Keep up the Great Work!!

You are so full of S**t. Your obvious liberal (communist/socialist) bias is laughable. You failed to mention that the progressives are funded by the public unions. Why exactly do we need PUBLIC unions? I forgot, was it our own government recently that tried to exploit the working man? Hmmm, no. Perhaps it was just a liberal fat cat who realized there is no place for unions anymore. Imagine if none of their members had to pay dues anymore. It would save the government and the companies tons of money. Money to reduce our deficit; and money that companies could use to hire more workers. There are minimum wage laws, and workers rights laws that protect the american worker. The unions are just a money source for the socialist (aka: democrat) party.

You see Charles, Beck is a tool of the fat cats. You are in obvious denial about this. Beck is also a tool maker, using his tremendous gift to get his tools (you) to support the corporate take over of Congress and the country.

I've addressed bias in the past here. Bias is what makes one critical. The conservative bias of MRC makes them critical of mainstream media and its supposed bias. Liberal bias of Media Matters for America makes them critical of conservative media like FoxPAC. My bias isn't "laughable;" it's necessary. With your bias, you can't even see what a tool Beck is.

The rest of your angry rant is pretty muddled. You're angry at public unions, but that doesn't address what we're seeing this year: a Beck/FoxPAC lead and coordinated effort to buy this election and put pro-business, anti-public interest pols into office

So, Victor, who were the corporations trying to buy in the last two election cycles when the main stream media reported that corporate PACs were focusing their donations to the Democrat Party? As those corporate PAC dollars were flowing into the Democrat Party, there were no complaints. When the president doubled back on his pledge to accept the financial limitations of public financial resources for his presidential run in 2008, there were no complaints, only congratulations for fooling John McCain into going the public route with the accompanying limitations. Me thinks you are a tool....of George Soros. BTW, who finances your web site, or are you going to keep that information to yourself?

No Charles, your bias is indeed laughable. The main thrust of your argument is this whole FoxPAC "anti-public interest" argument. On this, you have failed to prove or show anything and have no valid points. Apparently, any company anywhere that makes any money is automatically "anti-public interest" despite what they might do or say or stand for. Good job.

mwbourquin and William are the result of trying to show this attempt by corporations to take over Congress and gut the reforms, ignore environmental concerns and all other public interests to people on Beck's website. They have their heels dug in.

William, what you see above is new in that individuals and corporations can spend as much as they want without disclosing who they are. This is new in the U.S., and it threatens our Republic as we've know it for the last 223 years.

@William"...who were the corporations trying to buy in the last two election cycles when the main stream media reported that corporate PACs were focusing their donations to the Democrat Party?"

The Democrats! Duh! The corporate multinationals give to both parties in similar amounts until a clear winner starts to emerge, and then they abandon the weaker party and go all-in for the one with strength. In '06 and '08, that was the Dems. This year, it appears to be the GOP, but that may be wishful thinking. The corporations own ALL the media, including Fox AND NBC - and they've used it to create the zeitgeist of unstoppable GOP momentum going into this November... but it's not unstoppable and it's not even momentum anymore. And their massive spending spree on anonymous advocacy spots is already beginning to engender a backlash. They may have miscalculated this time... maybe.

"As those corporate PAC dollars were flowing into the Democrat Party, there were no complaints."

Yes, there were. That's why liberals have been calling for full public financing of all Federal elections for more than two decades now... in case you missed it. No, we're not the hypocrites the righties are, much as you're desperate to frame it that way. There is no equivalency between libs and cons - libs may be hypocrites on any given Sunday, but cons are hypocrites every day of the week. And it's DemocratIC party, as I'm sure you know, and even though common courtesy is beyond the understanding of the common ultra-rightie, such as yourself, William, it's still declasse.

And the Democratic party and their support groups and friends , many of which are overseas, aren't doing that? They/you shouldn't mind. You who want one world government. Are you a hypocrite?

Those overseas sponsors to the Republican party or to the Chamber for American businesses are probably former American workers, shipped overseas with their jobs, do to unfair labor trade and the shutting down and bankruptcy of American jobs. Or maybe they believe in charity, the same way I help my neighbor rake his lawn, I go on mission trips to third world countries. Do you give any charity without being told? Why not? Maybe all you nay sayers should go live in the countries already with socialism. If you don't like our system, where you'd be happier? Then leave please. Hats off to all those groups you've educated me on now that have generously given to the Chamber to try to keep American business going and in America. thank you . Linda........Linda Tipler on Facebook with your reply, please

Linda: the Chamber of Commerce is not trying to keep jobs in America. It's a violation of American law to accept funding for elections from overseas. They're not "Americans." This has been documented by Think Progress. Try clicking on the link at the top, "Beck has been directly tied to a meeting." There is a lot of information there.

Do you even listen to the full discussion between Olbermann and Matt Taibbi?

As to your baseless claim tying this concern to "one world government," it's is a completely unrelated matter. One world government is a concern for the future, when the U.N. has outlived its usefulness. Even if it ever becomes a serious political issue worth discussing (by those not wearing tin foil hats), it will not involve breaking campaign spending laws.

It may or may not be (if a world government ever comes into existence)a counter force to the power of capital. Most people who think about world government do so in the framework of world peace. The League of Nations and the UN were established after world wars.

Adam, you are nicely summarizing the cynicism of FoxPAC propaganda. Limbaugh nor Soros are not even mentioned anywhere on this post, but you're completely missing the major two points: 1) Beck is no populist (he's in bed with the plutocrats) and 2) the plutocrats are attempting to buy this election because the CU v FEC decision allows them to.

I appreciate the name calling though. It shows that many on the right can't take criticism and react in childish manner when they see it.

I support Glenn Beck and his movement! Everyone has there own opinion of what they think motivates him but for me I don't care. The results have brought together alot of very like minded, good-hearted people. People that believe in self accountability, less government and "hope faith and charity" A lot of good has come from this movement

Sngbrds, you should care. Faith is not the answer to this country's problems when fat cats are working to buy the next Congress.

"Less government" may have been great in the 18th and 19th Centuries, but we're well beyond that stage in our history. It's naive to think that doing less to achieve more. Your views are out of the mainstream just as the reactionary tea party is out of the mainstream.

Beck wants to take the country back to the 19th Century. You should care how that would make the U.S. a second rate economy unable to compete with 21st Century powers. In short, Beck has blinded you to our real problems. For the plutocrats trying to take over, that makes him a useful tool.